tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 27 10:42:19 2007
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Re: Topic (was: Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for February 9, 2007
- From: McArdle <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Topic (was: Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for February 9, 2007
- Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 10:41:34 -0800 (PST)
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The major difference I see between {qatoy'taH wa'ben 'e' vItagh} and {wa'ben qatoy'choH} is the {-taH}. I read my version as something like "I began to serve you continuously one year ago." I think that this would be understood by default as implying "... and I still serve you", and that to make it mean anything else (e.g., "... and I stopped serving you six months ago") would require extra verbiage of some sort.
But, as this whole discussion makes abundantly clear, interpretations vary. I'm afraid I never understood why {wa'ben'e' qatoy'taH} didn't imply something like "A year ago I was serving you [... but not any more]". Maybe it's just me, but turning the timestamp into the topic of the sentence seems to imply that there's a contrrast coming, even if it's only implied.
qavan
mIq'ey
Doq <[email protected]> wrote:
There's nothing wrong with {qatoy'taH wa'ben 'e' vItagh}, though it basically says the same thing as {wa'ben qatoy'choH} and is less concise. It does have one problem in terms of expressing "I have served you for the past year." What you are actually saying is, "A year ago, I began serving you." That says nothing about now. Are you still serving? I guess context will have to provide that information, since it would work just as well if someone was committed to service for a month and someone asked, "When did you start your month of service?" {wa'ben qatoy'choH.}
[etc.]
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